When a protrusive pattern cloth (i.e. jacquard fabric) is knitted via a conventional flat knitting machine, sinkers are swung about a shaft to press a yarn downwards to form a mesh to knit the protrusive pattern cloth.
For instance, R.O.C. patent No. 338440 entitled “Improved sinker for flat knitting machines” discloses a sinker 10 is braced by a bracing rod 22 to achieve swinging.
When a flat knitting machine is in production and assembly, the sinkers 10 have to be run through individually by the bracing rod 22 for coupling. Moreover, during repair and maintenance, the sinkers 10 also have to be removed individually for replacement as needed, and then reassembled individually again. It is troublesome, tedious and time-consuming.
R.O.C. patent No. 1274796 entitled “Sinker for flat knitting machines to downward press mesh” discloses a sinker 1 with a slot 19 threaded through by a loosening yarn 45 of the mesh as shown in its FIG. 1. The sinkers 1 have to be individually threaded through by the loosening yarn 45 of the mesh and also be removed individually therefrom to replace the broken one during repair and maintenance. After a new sinker 1 has been replaced, the loosening yarn 45 of the mesh has to thread through all the sinkers 1 again. The process also is troublesome and time-consuming.
In short, while the aforesaid conventional techniques provide retaining shaft swinging function, they still have drawbacks, notably:
1. During production and assembly of the downward pressing mesh mechanism in the conventional flat knitting machine, assembly of the sinkers is troublesome and time-consuming.
2. During repair and maintenance of the downward pressing mesh mechanism in the conventional flat knitting machine, replacement of the sinkers also is difficult and tedious.
3. Due to assembly of the sinkers of the downward pressing mesh mechanism in the conventional flat knitting machine is troublesome and time-consuming, labor cost is higher to result in higher product price, thus cannot meet market requirements.